Crème Brûlée

Preheat the oven to 300 °F and start boiling some water. Either do this in a kettle or have something good for precisely pouring it ready.

In a 3-quart saucepan heat cream, whole milk, and a split and scraped vanila bean on medium heat until it simmers. Reduce the heat, cover, and steep for around 10-15 minutes .

• cream: 420 g
• whole milk: 100 g
• vanila bean: 1

Whisk egg yolk (around 18 g per large egg) with sugar until it is creamy and pale. Slowly pour in the hot cream and whisk it at the same time. Pour this through a strainer into a into a container good for pouring.

• egg yolk: 90 g
• sugar: 40 g
• hot cream from step 2

Place shallow ramekins in a large baking pan. One batch makes enough for 6x 133 ml ramekins or 4x 180 ml ramekins. Distribute the custard mix among the ramekins. Try to skim off bubbles. Put it in the oven and pour the boiling water between the ramekins. It should be enough to even out the cooking process without being in danger of getting in the custard. Cover it with aluminum foil loosely enough for steam to escape.

• custard mix from step 3

Bake it for 30-35 minutes . If you bump it, the custard should jiggle. Transfer the ramekins to a cooling rack using tongs or something. Let them cool a little. Wrap them in plastic wrap and let them refrigerate for at least 3 hours .

Right before serving, sprinkle sugar (around 1 T.) on a single serving. Carmelize it using a fairly cold flame from a culinary torch.

• sugar: 15 g